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I was away for 3 weeks and had no problems. The RCS tank did perfectly find grazing on IAL, Mulberry leaves, algae on the side of the glass, and the mosses. Even after 3 weeks with no one looking after the tank and no water top ups, everything was fine and in fact they excelled. As for my other tank the CRS, they were fine too, as soon as I got home I did a water change and fed them some zucchini and they were back to being very happy. There are a lot of people on this forum who abide by the rule less is more. So you and your husband going away shouldn't have any harmful effects on the shrimp, especially if it is only for a few days at a time.

There have been a few rumblings from Bob, Kiz and I about a new shrimp to the hobby, and possibly a new shrimp to science , which for the moment we will call Caridina sp. 'Malanda'. Thanks to Kiz for putting up some excellent pics of the shrimp themselves, which can be found here: Having kept both the Caridina sp. Malanda and the shrimp collected from Barney Springs (another possibly unidentified shrimp which we are calling Caridina sp. "Barney Springs", also rare in the hobby), they are quite similar in size, shape and colour and, in my opinion, could likely be the same species. These are currently with Ura for taxonomy so we will have some more info on taxonomy soon. Thanks @‌Ura. Anyway this is a report from where the shrimp were found (May, 2015). Water parameters were: TDS: 17 pH: 7.4 - Water sample was taken from within the riffles which would tend to cause CO2 to gas off and therefore boost pH. Temperature: 19*C KH: < 10 ppm GH: < 20 ppm Short video - excuse the rainy conditions We found the shrimp only in one specific location - just upstream of where Bob is standing, in the long grass at the edge of the stream. We sampled further upstream, across the other side of the creek and downstream, and found none, including in areas where the grass was growing in a similar manner to where we did find them. This is just a shot from further upstream, around the corner from the above shot. The creekbed within the riffles was rock, mostly covered in algae and some silt. there were no shrimp in this area. The shrimp were found hard in against the bank, right at the interface between the water, the bank and the grass hanging into the water. The shrimp were clearly coloured by sex - females were reddish, males blue. Note the large eggs for this species = easy to breed. Male - Top Female - Bottom We also found a species of rainbowfish in the eddies at the base of the riffles, a species of gudgeon, some sponges growing on the bedrock in the riffles and some macros (Macrobrachium sp.). None were in the same habitat as the Malanda shrimp. This macro had a parasite attached - nasty!

Just wanted to share a pic of my Bucephalandra sp. "Brownie Ghost" which has started to flower.

Good to hear

hey larry glad all is good - youre probably already aware but just want to chime in and suggest you keep an eye on ammonia and nitrite incase any bacteria died off and contributed to a spike.

All shrimp survived......phew!

Exactly so. Just make sure the tanks have good close-fitting cover glass to stop evaporation, put in a mulberry or kale leaf and tell the kids not to touch anything!

How about something like: Commonly known as the Crystal Red Shrimp (CRS) or Crystal Black Shrimp (CBS), this freshwater dwarf species is popular amongst shrimp keepers around the world. They prefer cooler water temperatures (21-25 degrees Celsius) and a pH range of 6.0-7.0.